"What?" Hyuga Junpei froze for a moment.
"That's right."
Seeing that Kiyoshi Teppei had already guessed her intention, Aida Riko dropped her teasing smile and nodded seriously.
"This is a great opportunity."
"Even though we already held a training camp to prepare for our revenge against Kaijo and Seiho in the Winter Cup, and you two haven't slacked off since then, the truth is, we still don't know exactly how much we've improved. Nor do we know just how big the gap between us and the Generation of Miracles still is."
"But now, we happen to have someone who has defeated the Generation of Miracles standing right in front of us. I'm not asking you to win. I just want you two to figure out how far Seirin is from their level."
Hyuga and Kiyoshi fell silent, deep in thought.
After a moment,
Kiyoshi nodded.
"True. If the goal is to gauge the gap between us and those monsters, then this really is an ideal chance."
But Hyuga quickly added, "Yeah, but just the two of us? Can we really force that guy to show his real strength? Shouldn't we call Kagami and Kuroko?"
Riko shook her head.
"If I could, I would. But Kagami already went back to the U.S. to train under his old coach, and Kuroko's home is too far from here."
"And more importantly, even if we could wait... that guy probably won't."
She glanced toward the locker room.
From her experience, that man was not someone who waited on others.
Once more, silence.
After a while,
Kiyoshi spoke again, "Riko... you already checked his physical data, right? So, how was it?"
Riko's expression hardened instantly.
"If I have to put it simply, he absolutely deserves the title of someone who could suppress the Generation of Miracles... No, to be precise, he's a monster among monsters."
The three of them fell quiet again.
Then Hyuga adjusted his glasses lightly and said,
"Well... I guess we should have expected that. He's the ace of the team that won the national championship. There's no way he'd be ordinary."
When Seirin first heard that Seiho had won the championship, they were shocked as well.
Especially Kuroko Tetsuya.
Because he, more than anyone, knew what kind of monsters the Generation of Miracles were.
Sure, they had seen Seiho defeat Kaijo with their own eyes.
But back then, most people had assumed Kaijo had simply been careless. Many believed that if Aomine had entered earlier, the result might have changed completely.
But then Yosen and Rakuzan fell to Seiho in turn,
and Seiho took the championship outright.
That's when everyone realized,
Something was very, very wrong.
============
"Hm? You guys are already set?"
Just then, Akashi Asuka walked out of the locker room.
"Well then, since everyone's ready, let's get started."
Since it was summer break, there weren't many people at the gym. That's why Hyuga and Kiyoshi were free to train here in the first place.
"So, how do you want to play?" Akashi rotated his shoulders casually.
"Let's go one-on-one," Riko said, clearly having prepared beforehand.
"Ten attempts each. Five offense, five defense."
"Ten each... with two of you... That's twenty total?"
Akashi paused, then shook his head.
"Sorry, that's too much trouble. I've got things to do later. So instead, how about this, "
He grinned.
"Let's still do ten attempts. But you two, come at me together."
"Together?"
Hyuga, Kiyoshi, and Riko all froze.
How?
This wasn't like a casual street game where missing players meant uneven teams.
A 2v1 wasn't comparable to 1v2 at all.
Offense might still be fine,
But no matter how strong a person was, it was impossible to guard two attackers at once in a pure one-on-one format!
"Relax. I wouldn't suggest this without a reason."
Seeing their hesitation, Akashi added:
"And besides, your goal is to test my level, right? Individually, neither of you can do that. But working together, maybe you'll have a chance."
The temptation struck Riko hard.
Her eyes lit up.
"…Alright. Then we'll go with that."
Since their coach had already agreed, Hyuga and Kiyoshi had no grounds to refuse.
The match began.
Akashi Asuka took the first possession.
He dribbled casually toward the three-point line.
Hyuga and Kiyoshi formed a pincer formation, with focus raised to the maximum.
Then,
Akashi shot.
Swish.
The ball passed through the net cleanly.
Hyuga and Kiyoshi froze.
They turned to look at the ball rolling across the floor, their pupils widening.
"It… went in?" Kiyoshi muttered blankly. He hadn't let his focus slip for even a fraction of a second. But in that single blink,
the ball had already left Akashi's hands.
"So fast, no… it wasn't just speed. His shot was too fluid."
Hyuga's heart trembled.
And Riko's face seemed completely frozen, though her mind was in an uproar.
When watching the matches and recordings, I didn't realize it. His three-point shot isn't just high in release point. His motion, rhythm, and timing are all perfectly refined!
A person over two meters tall, shooting more beautifully than Hyuga. That's… unbelievable.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria